How to Structure Your Google Ads Account in 2026

Google Ads Account Structure: A Strategic Foundation

Aaron Young argues that Google Ads account structure is a strategic foundation, not just an organizational detail. It determines how campaigns interact, where budget can be allocated, and whether the account supports the business’s actual goals.

Adding more campaigns is not automatically better. Each campaign adds management complexity and should have a clear purpose.

Account-planning framework

1. Define the business outcome. Decide what action an ad should generate: a phone call, form submission, quote request, booking, product sale, app download, or another goal.
2. Match the strategy to the business’s current stage. Priorities may include customer or revenue growth, or profitability and efficiency. If volume is the priority, don’t let an arbitrary ROAS or CPA target prevent worthwhile growth.
3. Identify the budget controls you need. Separate campaigns when you need independent spending control—for example, by location, product margin, season, business unit, or proven performance theme.
4. Choose campaign types and campaign count based on those needs. Google Ads budgets are set at the campaign level, so campaign separation is useful when it gives the business meaningful control.
5. Check operational readiness. Consider whether you have suitable creative assets and reliable conversion data before expanding into campaign types that depend on them.

Campaign roles and sequencing

• Search and Shopping are typically high-intent, bottom-of-funnel formats that respond to specific searches.
• Performance Max can reach Search and Shopping placements and seek additional conversions, but generally offers less direct control. The speaker recommends having strong conversion data before relying heavily on it.
• Demand Gen and Video can support upper-funnel or remarketing activity; suitable creative assets matter.
• AI Max and Dynamic Search can help reach search terms not currently targeted. For lead-generation businesses, the speaker advises improving data quality first.

A common starting point is Search and Shopping, with Performance Max added next where appropriate, followed by Video or Demand Gen as the business and account justify them.

Examples and operating lessons

Local service lead-generation business

A newer account used two Search campaigns, one for each core service. The presenter says a one-campaign account can also be appropriate if that is all the business needs.

One service had about 80% Search impression share; the more popular service had about 30%, leaving more opportunity to increase volume. The account was focusing on improving messaging and conversion performance before expanding to Performance Max.

For lead-generation businesses without a CRM, the presenter recommends setting a minimum call duration of about 120 seconds so very short calls are less likely to be treated as quality leads. One example account used 200 seconds.

Large US lead-generation business

The account began with two Search campaigns, then added Performance Max and later state-based campaigns. It targeted mainland US markets and was described as spending roughly $40,000–$50,000 per month, peaking at $70,000 per month during its busy season; the transcript’s monthly-spend figure is unclear.

Search campaigns handled calls and form leads, while Performance Max was set up around offline conversions and used to obtain lower-cost traffic. The example cites roughly $3 CPC for a lower-cost product and $6–$8 CPC for core products.

State-level campaigns were split out because high-population states such as California, Texas, and New York—with CPCs around $7–$8.19—were consuming budget that could otherwise serve lower-population states with good conversion results. The example lists Performance Max budget figures of $200 and Search spending of $1,700 per day, though the exact budget period is not specified.

E-commerce business with two core product categories

The account used one Search and one Performance Max campaign per category. A separate Shopping campaign was not needed because Performance Max was primarily serving Shopping-feed inventory.

In other cases, the presenter said Performance Max and Shopping can run together when Performance Max leans more toward Search. A temporary promotional campaign supported Cyber Monday and the Christmas run-up, after which the structure was expected to return to its regular setup.

Large e-commerce retailer

A kitchen-supplies business with approximately 40,000–50,000 SKUs grouped Performance Max campaigns around four core product categories. It also used Dynamic Search and a Shopping campaign with a higher target ROAS, which the presenter said helped capture branded terms outside Performance Max.

Metrics, targets, and timelines

• One e-commerce client targeted approximately 500% ROAS and was reported to be meeting or exceeding it.
• The speaker cautions against treating a target of 700%–800% ROAS as sacrosanct if it blocks valuable customer or revenue growth.
• The local-service account’s phone-call conversion threshold was set to 200 seconds. The general recommendation was around 120 seconds when there is no CRM.
• Call-only Search campaigns: The presenter says new campaigns could no longer be set up from February 2026, and existing campaigns would be removed during 2027.
• Account-development timelines in the examples ranged from about 2.5 years of management for the large US lead-generation account to 3, 6, or 9 months as periods when businesses may identify strong product or keyword themes worth separating.

Actionable recommendations

• Start with the business objective and desired customer action, not with a checklist of isolated optimizations.
• Keep the account as simple as possible while still giving the business the budget controls it needs.
• Split campaigns only when there is a clear rationale, such as location control, seasonality, margin, product category, or a proven performance opportunity.
• Review how campaigns may compete or interact when adding new campaigns or ad groups.
• Improve lead-quality measurement and offline conversion tracking before scaling automated campaign types.
• Revisit the structure as the business, product mix, and performance data change.

Presenter/source: Aaron Young, Define Digital Academy.